the internet, does it really matter?? (page 2)

jurs

Hi Astra,

I don't know for sure how big an impact the internet is but I believe its HUGE. I recently left the org (in May) due completely from the info from the web. There are so many websites that have loads of info.
I use to wonder at meetings and assemblies , why they stressed staying away from the internet. Point blank stay away from unofficial JW websites. I use to think that one elder was especially paranoid about it. He brought it up frequently.
Well, now I understand their need to frighten the flock. They can't and won't answer questions that the member will now ask. They know that they will be exposed . They got to stop brothers and sisters BEFORE they come here by making them feel like their sinning if they check things out.

jurs

battman

The internet may be having more an impact on "new ones"
coming, not coming, into the org. Once in it is very difficult
to leave.

I have not seen any figures from this summer's DCs but
would love to see a break down of the baptismal #s
as to "family members" versus real true* new ones. IMHO
the internet is also having a negative impact on the % of
children of loyal R&F that are delaying or outright denying
signing up.

battman

*ones gleaned from the d2d work.

MadApostate

The internet changed me from a several years long inactive, yet still believing, Jdub to a totally pissed-off, now fully aware I was in a CULT person looking for my next move.

HOWEVER, none of my dozen or so internet-using JW relatives will even consider visiting any website that even hints of JW negativity. And I believe this to be typical of 99.99% of JWs. I think that something has to happen to move a JW to explore things. That's the utility of the internet. If a JW DOES want to check things out, they can do so easily, privately, and anonymously.

Sunchild

Astra, meet Exhibit A of the Internet's power to get people out the the JWs.

Not quite two years ago, I reached a point where I just couldn't take it anymore and decided to leave the Witnesses just for a little while. I had every intention of coming back later; I still believed it was "The Truth." After that, though (since God was going to kill me anyway), I decided to look into those evil apostate Web sites I'd been warned about. Needless to say, I'm NOT going back now! But that's not all.

In addition to helping me learn the truth about "The Truth," the 'Net has helped me find and explore new spiritual paths as well as helping me make make some new friends, one of whom I'm dating now. I think that's actually the biggest power the Wathctower has over people, the social isolation it imposes on the flock. But thanks to the Internet, people no longer have to feel all alone when they decide to leave. And as I think others have said here, the easy access to opposing views that the Internet provides could make it much more difficult for the Org to find new suckers... er, members... in developed countries.

*Rochelle.

---------
http://www.dreamsphere.net/ -- See it, live it, wear it.
"Most men complacently accept 'knowledge' as 'truth'. They are sheep, ruled by fear."
-- Sydney Losstarot, "Vagrant Story."

Pierced Angel

Mad Apostate, that's so true.

I've been writing and working for internet companies for four years now and I always knew there were exjw sites out there, but I always avoided them. Then, when I had some doubts and bad feelings about the "cult" I went straight to those sites. I figured I was going to set my mind straight or find out what I needed to know. Boy, did I find out a lot more than I thought I would.
All that time and I wouldn't allow myself to look at those websites even though I was and am a strong advocate of the internet.

So I can't imagine many witnesses taking the time to check out the websites I've recommended via secret slips of paper left anonymously at the hall, but you never know.

"Too much of a good thing, is wonderful."

Mae West

astra

Ok you've convinced me that the internet does seem to make a difference - maybe mostly due to what individuals wife (i think) said about the concern of the soceity being reflected in the literature etc..

But hmm I am still pretty much in doubt as to whether the Net will be able to substantially reduce the WTS ranks. Not because I doubt what you say, but as maybe Mad Apostate said, you have to want to get the information, if you don't it can be right in front of your nose and you just don't see it and then it doesn't make a difference.

Also, as this guy from the Society I talked to said, people use filter programs, and maybe they can make filter programs that filter out the apostate sites and forums. So there might be ways in which they can actually control how we use the Net, where we go and all...

What do you think?? did you ever use filter programs??

Astra

I think that (as someone say)

Pierced Angel

www.weblocker.com

This program works like a charm for us. You can't even perform a search on a search engine for a word that's prohibited. I can add my own list of words for it to block if I want to. I turn it off most of the time these days though.

"Too much of a good thing, is wonderful."

Mae West

peaceloveharmony

the internet helped me to realize the truth about the jws. i posted this in another thread, thought it applied here as well:

i too thought right after i left that the jws might have the truth but i couldn't live up to the standards so i might as well have fun while i'm still alive and then just be dead after armageddon. then about 3 or 4 yrs ago, i discovered the truth about the "truth" and wooweee! it was great realizing i had made the right decision at the time. thank the gods for the internet and for sites like freeminds.org, observer.org and all along the watchtower. those were some of the first sites i ever visited. a big THANK YOU to everyone out there for your time and effort in exposing the wts for the cult that it is.

long live the internet! hehe

the jws have to be searching for some answers and hopefully because of the nature of the internet, they will feel more comfortable going to forbidden websites. but i think where the internet has a huge impact is on the door to door work/converts. anyone with a pc/internet connection and with a brain, (i would hope) after being contacted by jws in their preaching work, will run to their pcs and type in "jehovah's witnesses" and viola! instant info!

love
harmony

"If God has spoken, why is the world not convinced?"
..........Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (1792-1822)

bboyneko

I worked at a public library and when I was assigned the drive-thru window (yes, we have a drive-thru window) it would get really boring. So I would use the internet and surf for JW stuff. I forgot what exactly it was that made me look, I guess the #1 reason for most of us is morbid curiosity..the same compelling urge we get to look at an accident scene secretly hoping to see a body.

We do what we know we arent supposed to, especially if we havent tried it before, because we are curious. We seek, we ask why? And thats a big part of being human. The first thing that got me doubting was the 607 date versus what researchers said.

Leaving the borg was just like in the Matrix. Waking up and seeing all your friends are plugged into a giant collective, a gigantic illusion.

battman

Another huge impact will be the "dumbing down"
of the R&F. I do not see large numbers of dubs
even looking at the apostate sites much less doing
something about what they might see.

However the best and brightest, me excepted, are
the ones most likely to at first have questions, then
act to find out answers. There fore as time goes on
the R&F will be left with only the hardcore blindly
loyal ones. Not much encouragement for future
growth and vitality.

Just another boring, listless, moribund religion.

Just sitting back and reading the articulate well reasoned
and often very very funny comments quickly makes one
realize what a priceless resource the WTBBRTGVBN has lost
and will continue to lose plus the inability to attract new talent.

battman

the internet, does it really matter??

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